"It Boosted My Confidence More Than My Therapist": How Her Allies Gave Stephanie Murray Her First Real Mentor

"She gave me the biggest compliment; she said, ‘You are the most engaged and show-up mentee I have ever had,’" Stephanie says. "That was music, as I was going through a layoff."

Stephanie Murray had spent years as an executive assistant, supporting predominantly male executives, including a stint at Airbnb, without ever having a real mentor of her own. 

"I tried to go through those mentor programs in companies but never had a mentor that I felt showed up for me in them," she says. 

That changed when her friend Tessa Polumsky, herself a Her Allies mentee and volunteer, told her about the program.

"Tessa explained about Her Allies," Stephanie recalls, and what started as a conversation between friends turned into an opportunity for mentorship in the Her Allies program. It allowed her to build a relationship that would carry her through a layoff, a job search, and a shift in how she saw her own career.

The Best Timing She Could Have Asked For

Stephanie was matched with her mentor, Michelle Ferguson, an executive who had years of experience hiring and developing people in similar executive assistant roles to Stephanie. The two hit it off immediately. 

"Michelle had many executive assistants herself, and having someone who had hired people in my position was great. I was able to ask her specific questions, and she gave me key ways to level up," Stephanie says.

The mentorship arrived at exactly the right moment. 

"It ended up being super helpful at the beginning to organize my job search, and it was the best timing to have a mentor," she says. 

Stephanie and Michelle have kept the relationship going ever since, meeting for 45 minutes twice a month. 

Navigating a Layoff 

While working with Michelle, Stephanie was laid off from her company. Not long after, she was contacted again: the company had laid off an entire level of roles and was now rehiring some of those people back into the new structure, including, potentially, her. 

"They were looking for someone with the same title, but on a totally restructured team," she explains. "I was in the process of interviewing back with them when they put the role on hold."

Even before the layoff, Stephanie had already started quietly exploring the market. 

"I had a job then, so I had a good position, and was looking for companies that were positive work experiences," she says. 

With Michelle's guidance, she updated her resume and LinkedIn and began to think more intentionally about what she actually wanted. 

"My mentor helped guide me to understand what I was looking for," she says. "I disliked my current situation, and it didn’t have room for growth. In this new structure, the position looked much better and worth applying for."

Because she was still employed, she didn't apply broadly at first. But once the layoff hit, everything accelerated. 

"When I got laid off, I hit the ground running and had a bunch of leads early on."

Learning to Ask for What She's Worth

One of the most significant parts of the mentorship centered on compensation and advocacy territory Stephanie had never had support navigating before. Despite being, in her words, highly successful and consistently doing things her peers weren't, she hadn't been promoted in four years.

Michelle helped her build a case: setting a deadline for a promotion conversation, identifying the right salary band, and preparing her to lead with data. 

"She helped me form the communication and come with salary data," Stephanie says. "My boss at the time loved numbers. I am not data-driven, and she was taking all of what I explained and turning it into that."

Michelle also gave her tools to navigate a difficult dynamic with her manager. 

"I had a conflict at work with my boss, and she gave me tools on how to bring it up," Stephanie says. Michelle's advice was concrete and immediately useful, with topics to use to reignite our work: 

"What are some areas I can improve, or what are your top priorities? That was extremely helpful for me."

The impact wasn't just tactical. During one of the hardest stretches of her job search, Michelle told her something that stuck. 

"She gave me the biggest compliment; she said, ‘You are the most engaged and show-up mentee I have ever had,’" Stephanie says. "That was music, as I was going through a layoff."

Why a Female Mentor Made the Difference

For Stephanie, part of what made the relationship so powerful was simply who it was with. In a career spent almost entirely supporting men, she had never had a woman invested in her own growth. 

"To have another female was so hugely impactful to be able to relate woman to woman."

She's blunt about the impact:

"It has boosted my confidence more than my therapist."

More Than Mentorship: A Community

Beyond her one-on-one sessions with Michelle, Stephanie points to the wider Her Allies community as part of what made the experience valuable even when her schedule didn't always allow her to attend live. 

"I missed a few of the group sessions, but I always watched the recordings and connected with other people in the cohort," she says. "They helped highlight things I had never thought of in that way."

The connections have gone beyond the screen. Stephanie is planning to meet Michelle in person in New York. 

"I am so excited," she says.

A 10 out of 10 Recommendation

Ask Stephanie whether she'd recommend Her Allies, and there's no hesitation. 

"I would absolutely recommend it, 10 out of 10," she says. 

She sees Her Allies as especially valuable for two overlapping groups: people actively job searching, and women who, like her, have simply never had a professional mentor. 

"Her Allies benefited me, and that is when I needed it the most: people making a career change or a new job. There are so many women [who have] never had a mentor, and I said, 'let me send you Her Allies.'"

Looking ahead, Stephanie already knows she wants to be on the other side of the relationship one day. 

"I would love to give back to Her Allies in the future as a volunteer."

Stephanie's experience highlights something many women recognize in their own careers: years of supporting others' growth, often men's, with little support directed back at their own. 

What changed the trajectory wasn't a single big break, but consistent, structured mentorship from another woman who showed up, session after session, through a layoff, a negotiation, and a difficult manager dynamic.

For women who've spent their careers in support roles, or who have never had a mentor advocate specifically for them, Stephanie illustrates the relationship that can unlock confidence, clarity, and the tools to finally ask for what they're worth.